Reading Rambo

I brought Sex Object  with me to London, because why wouldn't you want to read a feminist memoir that refuses to be optimistic when you're on a week-long trip? Jessica Valenti is obviously a Name in popular feminism. As the founder of feministing.com and a frequent go-to lady for quotes about how things in the culture affect the ladies, it makes sense for her to be writing books. And she's a good writer! And yes, there is a but, but that only but is that this book is a major downer. Which I RESPECT. Valenti points out that "even subversive sarcasm" in response to comments from men being assholes "adds a cool-girl nonchalance, an updated, sharper version of the expectation that women be forever pleasant, even as we're eating shit" and that the "inability to be vulnerable--the unwillingness to be victims, even if we are--doesn't protect us, it just covers up the wreckage." This has made me think. Because we are  conditio

I brought upwards of 20 books back with me from England. Following the excellent advice of Jenny from Reading the End , I packed an empty suitcase so carting the inevitable bookhaul home wouldn't be a problem. Which turned out to be a great idea, because this was the (almost) final product: I got two more at the airport The thing is, you're there and you're like "WHAT IF THESE ARE NOT EASILY GOT  IN AMERICA" and sure, you could check your phone, but that's not fun. Also sometimes you're at Blackwell's in Oxford and you're like "you know, maybe I need these  £ 4 secondhand copies of Necropolis  and Bedlam , because it's not like I DON'T want to read about London as a graveyard and how it's historically dealt with its mentally ill residents." And then it kind of continues in that vein and then you have all the books except for those giant biographies of Catherine of Aragon and Jane Carlyle, because they are MASSIVE and

March and April were pretty damn good reading months for me, meaning I read 14 books between them, and YES COMIC VOLUMES COUNT AS BOOKS. Kind of. Broken down into fun genres they are: COMICS The Beauty, Vol. 1 The Borden Tragedy Black Panther, Vol. 1 Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1 Batman, Arkham Asylum YOUNGER PEOPLE BOOKS Star Wars: Before the Awakening The Coldest Girl in Coldtown STRAIGHT UP FICTION The Girl on the Train The Graduate The Secret Life of Bees Life After Life PRETTY GREAT / WORTHWHILE NON-FICTION Between the Wars: 1919-1939 She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders Elizabeth Cady Stanton: An American Life Yes, that's a weird number of comics starting with a B. No, it was not planned. COINCIDENCE? Yes. Yes entirely. I also got a pretty good assortment of comics at C2E2 in Chicago. Two ( Rough Riders  and INSEXTS ) are by Aftershock Comics , which I most inDEEDLY encourage you to check out, because I'd never heard of them, but pretty much all th